


A Civilized Savage

by FlippyTheFox



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Disability, F/M, Gen, Oblivious Judy Hopps, Romance, Slow Burn, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-05-18 11:05:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14851559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlippyTheFox/pseuds/FlippyTheFox
Summary: The nighthowler crisis may be over, but it wasn't nearly the last encounter for the dynamic duo.Contains Plots, Savagery, and enough WildeHopps fluff to make your gums bleed. M for violence and romance.





	1. Dark Chilly Night

 

Ch 1. Dark Chilly Night

\--June 10, 2018 10 pm, outside an apartment complex in Tundratown--

“And then he said COOL party.”

"If you make one more snow pun, I'll use your bottle brush of a tail to clean a furnace." The irate bunny states as she bangs her head on the steering wheel. Nick protectively grabs his tail before responding, *GASP* "You wouldn't! He's innocent!"

\--2 hours later--

"And we could've been home watching reality shows and turning our brains to mush, but no, somebunny just had to volunteer to stake out a Nighthowler lab AFTER a day of patrol." "Nick, you know we don't get to choose our assignments. And is that really something you’d rather be doing? I seem to recall you trying to hang yourself by your tie when I tried to get you to watch “Desperate Mousewives of New Jindi”."

"That show should be banned as an instrument of torture and I'm sure your incessant badgering had nothing to do with Chief Buffalo Butt putting us out here." Judy turns away, looking out the window. "I don't nag, and I'm sure Madge would love to know you used that phrase." "Fine Fluff, you win this round."

\--3 am, Savanna Central--

A fox and rabbit with bags under their eyes stumble into their shared apartment.

The fox collapses onto the couch. "I thought you were nocturnal, Slick" Judy sleepily states. The only response from Nick is a grumble into the cushions. Judy considers showering, before heading into her room and collapsing onto her bed.

\--The following morning 10 am--

Judy wakes up uncharacteristically late, and looks down at her rumpled uniform. She heads to the bathroom, strips, and enters the shower. The warm water puts the spring back in her step, and she comes out of the room revitalized. As she heads to her room to get dressed, she spies the fox contorted on the couch as he sleeps soundly. In one of her few off-duty outfits, she heads towards the unconscious vulpine. She hops up onto the arm of the sofa, breathing in. "YOU'RE DEAD RED" Nick shoots about a foot in the air, before tipping the couch, Judy leaping onto the floor before she falls.He clutches his chest dramatically. "Jeez Fluff, you know if you kill me, you'll have to pay all of the rent." She ponders for a moment, tapping a digit on her chin. "I suppose I can keep you around then."

"C'mon Slick get a move on, you can join me on my morning jog."

"Not happening Carrots, I have some things to do today."

"Like what? Drinking with Finnick?"

"Nope, secret fox business. Not for innocent bunny ears."

"I don't think I want to know anymore. Later Nick."

"See you Carrots." He gives a salute from the floor. Judy leaves, heading into the hustle and bustle of Savanna Central.

 

\--An entry in a sandy diary.--

How long has it been, two years almost?

I won't have to suffer in this hell much longer.

No more hiding. One last job and I can run.

A shave and an assumed identity, a boat in the Bayou.

The end of this.

This formula has worked well. I have full confidence in its potency.

It only took a few dozen worthless pelts to perfect it.

A final promise; a final retribution.

 

\--11pm The Apartment--

As Judy leaves, Nick lays around on the floor. He gathers the energy to move, rising up and taking plodding steps into the bathroom. After washing and drying his fur, he goes to his bed and begins the laborious process of brushing his fur. He looks over at his wall at a newspaper clipping with a photo of Judy pinning his badge on.

"I never want to see that smile leave your face, Carrots."

Now clean and unruffled, Nick leaves the apartment. He heads downtown, reaching the quaint (read: rundown) area known as “Historic Zootopia”. It stands as botha reminder and a memorial of the bad old days. A time when predators were even worse off then they were two years ago. It wasn’t so much that the laws forced predators into the slums of the city, but rather that they made it easy to shovel them off into the less-than-well-off housing. Most of the area used to be pretty nice, a shining example of the city expanding. But time takes a toll on the aged masonry of the older constructions. Nick contemplates these things as he has been doing more often in the last two years then he had in the twenty before. He approaches a wedge shaped shop, the road splitting around it like a river around a rock. The paint on the frame of the door is chipped and curled, but the window is clean and the mat dusted. The lettering above the door is long gone, but the mannequins in the windows still wear their immaculate formal clothes. He gently pushes the door open, bells tinkling to announce his entry. There is a shuffling of paws and a slight middle-aged vixen slips from the back room.

\--2pm Downtown, Brief Paws Cafe--

The fox and rabbit meet for a late lunch. "Try it, you know you want to." The fox says while wrapped in a smarmy grin while waving a cricket butter and jelly sandwich at her. "Ew Nick, that stuff is gross." Judy raises a paw to cover her nose. "I'm not sure how you can even be near that with a sensitive sniffer like that." He chortles, before taking a bite of his sandwich. "Suit yourself" He mumbles through his meal. "Speaking of suits... was that old shop you were hanging around your "fox business", Nick?" Nick freezes, and begins choking on his food. "Nick!" Judy exclaims as she hops onto the table. He raises his index finger and reaches out, picking up his water and drinking it down. "Ahh, that's better. I'm fine fluff, except for you stalking me." Judy, still standing on the table, begins stuttering out. "I. I wasn't. It's not. I just walked by and saw you going in and. Oh biscuits, I was." Her eyes tear up and she bounces back into her seat. Nick rushes to the aid of the sad bun. “Carrots, don’t worry about it, I don’t mind.” Judy sniffs “But you’re always so secretive, and you’re my best friend Nick. I don’t mean to pry, and I know that I’m not entitled to your life, but it hurts when you hide things from me.” As her watery gaze meets his, it’s evident that he wishes he could just pop out of existence. His desperate, pained expression crushing her even further. “Carrots, you know these things don’t come easily to me. You do mean a lot to me, Fluff, and you know more about me than nearly anyone. I can’t tell you what you want to hear, and I know that you won’t stop asking. It’d be like water flowing upstream, the indomitable Judy Hopps giving up. I don’t want you to either, I’m just not ready to bear myself to you yet.” He gives perhaps his most half-hearted and ingenuine smirk that has ever graced his muzzle. “Unless of course you’d like to revisit the Oasis.” Judy just stares at him while on the verge of crying, flabbergasted. “Nicholas P. Wilde, don’t you dare make jokes at a time like this.” She leaps out of her seat, returning a few minutes later to a warm veggie wrap and now sharing the table with a less red and more black and blue vulpine. “Sheesh, I know you can take a rhino Officer Hopps, but I didn’t expect such police brutality from you.” A brown set of ears from across the street turns towards the pair.


	2. Every Rose Has Its Torn

Every Rose Has Its Torn  
"Hello, my name is Jeremy." The buck stated. "I'm a huge fan of yours, you really opened up new oppertunities for us bunnies."  
Judy, putting on he best publicity face, responds. "Thank you, but it wasn't all me, I just want to make the world a better place."  
The rabbits converse about how different it is being a bunny in the city while a devious smirk crosses Nick's muzzle.  
Judy is engrossed in the topic and nearly misses the fluffy fur brushing her left foot. She brushes the right under it, and it is embedded in the fluffy and soft fur. The sensation is instantly familar because she has, on occasion, had the delight of batting away Nick's tail as he bothers her. Like he was doing right now.   
"Just ignore it Judy," she thinks to herself. She does her best to keep conversing as she tries to trap the troublesome appendage. She's satisfied as she hears an embarassing "Yip" from the fox as her toes squeeze his prized paintbrush, shortly before he excuses himself from the table with a rushed explination that he was returning to the cruiser.   
He sits out there for several minutes before an exhuberent Judy returns and takes the driver's seat back.  
"So, am I still going to have a partner in a few weeks?" Nick asks.  
"Of course Slick, why wouldn't I be here?" She says as she buckles up.  
"Well, you did say rabbits are good at multiplying." He replies cooly as he takes a sip from his rabbit-mandated travel mug.  
"You jerk." She smiles as she reaches over and flicks his ear.  
"Every night, fluff." He states as he bats he paw away.  
She groans as they pull out of the lot.

\--5pm Precinct One--  
"Woo, finally done, how's it going Claws?" The bombastic fox shouts up at the corpulent feline behind the desk.  
"Oh, it's fine. My donuts lasted until lunch today"  
"That's great Spots, glad to hear it."  
"Anyway, how did my favorite power couple fair today?" The large yellow mammal states as his tail whips proudly behind him.  
"CLAWHOUSER" The cat goes rigid at the voice of the cheif booming through the intercom. "We pay you to be a dispatcher, not a matchmaker. Now get back to your job and STOP TRYING TO HOOK UP MY OFFICERS!" The cheeta flinches and frantically brushes snack-related debris from his stacks of forms and paperwork.  
"Alright Officer Wilde, I need to get back to my work and uphold peace in the city." He attempts to puff up his chest, but only suceeds in rounding his front out.  
"See you later big guy." Nick salutes as he heads back to the 'smalls' locker room. (Which was in reality just a hastily constructed barrier blocking the lowest level of the megafauna lockers for use as changing rooms because of an incident involving a near-sighted rhino and a cuncussed fox.) 

\--6pm Warehouse in the Canal District--  
"And you're sure this one works?" A heavily covered figure gruffly asks.  
"Yes, it was made exactly to your specifications overseas." A scarred otter responds.  
"Good, stay in touch, I might need your services again. Tell me, could you move mammals out of the city as easily as you bring product in?"  
"For the right price, anyone can be anywhere."

\--6pm The Apartment--  
The two protagonists lay on their large, plush couch, soda and snacks scattered on the table as a B-grade flick plays on the television.  
"Hey Nick?"  
"Yeah Fluff?"  
"I'm going out with Jeremy tomorrow morning."  
"Good to know I don't need pants."  
"As long as you stay in your room."  
"You'll never know."  
"I will, and I'll get a new red rug."  
"You can't, do you know how many forms it takes to get a new partner?"  
"Sweet cheese and crackers, you're right, not nearly worth it. Seriously though, I will drag you into the sparring ring. If you wanna go feral, visit the Mystic Oasis."  
"Maybe I will. Lifetime membership Carrots."  
"I've been meaning to ask about that. Why?" She leans over on her stomach, propping her chin up on her paws.  
"Three reasons Fluff: cheap, hot showers, and a good place to hide."  
"Oh, yeah, that makes sense." Her brow furrows as she remembers 'Casa del Wilde' also known as a lawnchair under a bridge.  
He sees her look of consternation and adds "Also everyone can bask in my foxy glory" while giving her a wink.  
It works, making her laugh so hard she snorts, "Alright Slick, as long as I don't have to."

\--5am--  
Violet eyes open on the new day and scan over her domain, past the family photos and news clippings to her alarm clock. She leaves her bed and disarms her clock the normal hour before it blares. "Okay Judy, you can do this, two and a half hours to get ready. Now, how to dress for an architect?" She peruses her wardrobe, finally settling on a light yellow sundress with little purple flowers on it. After her morning grooming routine, her phone buzzes and it's display reads 7:30. She bolts through the living room, sparing a glance at the lazy vulpine lying supine accross the couch. "Good luck Carrots" he calls, eyes still closed. "Thanks Nick!" she responds, not bothering with the door lock as she leaves.  
"Stay safe Fluff" he mutters after the door closes. He returns to his lounging, ignoring the sinking feeling in his gut.

\--2pm--  
The rabbit slowly opens the door. "Nick, I'm coming in. You better be dressed." There is no response, and her spirits fall slightly. "It's fine, I can't expect him to be here whenever I want" she thinks to herself as she heads into her room and collapses onto her bed. She sighs contentedly and pulls out her phone, texting the buck that she got back to her apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to update, my internet was down for over a month. I'll get the next chapter up in a week, hopefully.

**Author's Note:**

> (Zootopia and it's characters are owned by Disney, not me.)  
> This is my first foray into writing, and I want constructive criticism. Also, yes, there are clues in here for future events which will affect you in the future.  
> Figure it out, and you'll get to see my next Chapter as it is written on Google Drive, should you so choose.  
> I really want this story to be around 50k words by the end, and that means I'm going to have longer chapters as time goes on, especially once the action starts. So don't expect there to be regular updates.  
> Ye Olde Spoiler Space!  
> Reading may cause: Decreased enjoyment of future chapters, premonitions, ecstasy, and/or nausea. Subject to change.  
> This is my complete plan for the story arc.  
> Part 1 "Dark Chilly Night"  
> This isn’t the end, friend.  
> Part 2 "Every Rose Has Its Thorn"  
> Bunny besieged! Vulpine vies for attention.  
> Part 3 "A Great Break"  
> Nick knows everyone.  
> Part 4 "Doing It Right"  
> Nick decides to try and test the waters.  
> Part 5 "Bad Moon on the Rise"  
> The wind up.  
> Part 6 "Unfortunate Events"  
> Nick loses his voice.  
> Part 7 "Not A Love Story"  
> Love is blind. And deaf. And dumb.  
> Part 8 "Something Stinks"  
> Nick finds his purpose.  
> Part 9 Do Everything  
> Haha, Phrasing.  
> Part 10 All Done  
> Do do do do do do do-do-do  
> Part 11 Just Unfortunate  
> Life is hard.  
> Part 12 Dark Yell  
> The final chapter, the prophecy fulfilled.


End file.
